


Donuts and Gunshots

by SodaChibi



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Children, Angst, Character Death, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Found Family, Friendship, Gun Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Maddie Wachowski and Tom Wachowski are Sonic the Hedgehog's Parents, Mental Health Issues, Mental Illness, Mild Gore, Movie: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), Other, Ozzy is best doggy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Separation Anxiety, Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) Spoilers, Spoilers, Violence, adopted family, bottling up emotions, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29818482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SodaChibi/pseuds/SodaChibi
Summary: Just 2 days after Dr. Robotnik destroyed half of Green Hills and was sent through the portal, Sonic begins his journey of adapting to a normal small-town life. Or, at least that was the plan. Through night terrors and a rise in criminal activity in this once cherished town, Sonic and Tom must overcome one hurdle after another. Protecting the people of Green Hills... no matter the cost...
Relationships: Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik/Agent Stone, Maddie Wachowski/Tom Wachowski, Sonic the Hedgehog & Tom Wachowski
Comments: 7
Kudos: 11





	1. Healing Fresh Wounds

“Tom!” Sonic shrieked as his best friend collapsed to the ground, his face painted with a pained expression. For the first time in his life, Sonic seemed to be moving in slow motion. Dr. Robotnik’s laughter cracked through the air like a whip of thunder amongst the night sky. Sonic ran to his companion’s side, his knees buckling under emotions.

“Tom! Hey! Look at me! You’re gonna be okay. You have to be…” Sonic whimpered as he took Tom’s frosty hand.“...So...nic… run…” Tom wheezed.

“What?! I can’t leave you! We made a promise.”

“I can’t… move.”

Sonic trailed down his body to see the cuts and punctures stamped into his skin.

“I told you I’d be back, you filthy vermin…” Robotnik spat with an iron tongue.

Robotnik was completely feral, a wild gaze in his eye and a distorted figure that resembled a corpse was pierced into Sonic’s mind.

He began to hyperventilate as he watched Robotnik smash a button in his prototype airship, firing up his weapons for another onslaught.

“Sonic…” Tom managed to cough out, with some blood. “Please leave me here… you have to get Maddie and Ozzy out of here, they need you.”

“T-Tom p-please no” Sonic’s body began to spackle and shake with tears.

“Goodbye you silly… little… alien.” The weapons charged with a beacon of white light.

“TOM!”

~

“Sonic? … Hey Sonic!”

“WHAA!!!”

“AAAH! What?! What’s wrong?!”

“Tom?! YOU’RE ALIVE!” Sonic jumped from his race car bed into his Donut Lord’s arms.

“Uh yeah, I would hope I am” Tom accepted the embrace awkwardly. “You were thrashing around in your sleep and yelling, it seemed to really spook you lil man.”

“Oh, uh… sorry Tom…” Sonic released his grip and sat back down on the bed.

“Hey, it’s alright Mello Yello. Just tell me what’s going on.”

Sonic didn’t really want to relive the experience, and even worse, worry Tom over nothing. It had only been 2 days since Robotnik had been sent through the portal, yet his body was still aching like crazy. Not to mention the government was still hot on his tail looking for him.

“It was just a bad dream, I basically forgot it already!” Sonic plastered a phony grin.

“Sonic come on dude-“ Tom was interrupted by Maddie entering from the attic door with a brightly lit expression.

“Hey you lazy kids, breakfast is ready! I made chocolate chip pancakes.”

Sonic sprang to his feet with a real smile and practically teleported down the stairs, leaving Tom sitting on the bed with a worried and confused look. However, he brushed it off and made his way to the latter.

~

Not a single pancake was left on the table and Sonic felt sick as a dog. Speaking of, even Ozzy was passed out on the floor from his share of chocolate-free pancakes. Tom slid up his sleeve and saw his watch light up to reveal the time: 7:36 am.

“Ah crud! I’m gonna be late for my first day back!” Tom jumped from his chair to dress himself for work.

As Tom stood in the doorway, fiddling with his police badge, Maddie handed him his bagged lunch since she was off from the clinic today. Sonic viewed them carefully and saw every loving interaction they expressed to each other… just like watching an old married couple.

He snapped from his gaze as Tom was about to leave. Sonic sped towards the doorway and stopped him dead in his tracks.

“What bud? I’m gonna be late.” Tom huffed.

“I want to come with you!” Sonic whined.

Maddie gave Tom the most giddy expression, as if she were a kid in a candy store.

Tom sighed, “I’m sorry lil dude but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I have a lot to do today, especially since the incident. The whole town is in shambles and it’s the sheriff’s department’s job to help out with the community.”

“Well, isn’t that even more reason for me to go? It is kind of my fault this whole thing happened to Green Hills anyways. I should be helping too.” Sonic looked down with a somber gaze.

Maddie nudged Tom with force, encouraging him.

With an even greater huff, Tom finally caved. “Fine. You can come.”

“Really?! Ahaha yes!” Sonic leaped and sped around in circles with glee.

“-BUT! You have to do EXACTLY what I say, capiche?”

“Got it Donut Lord.” Sonic smirked.

Tom gave Maddie a kiss and pet Ozzy goodbye. Sonic gave her a big hug and Ozzy gave him a lick on the nose.

Sonic’s first day on the force. What could go wrong?

~

Wade was attempting to take 52 phone calls all at once. All were residents of Green Hills trying to contact someone to help with downed trees, power lines, missing pets, and even destruction of property. He wasn’t the brightest on the team, last week he got stumped trying to solve the horoscope. However, Tom and him were great buddies and Wade had a good heart.

As the police station’s doors opened at 8:00 am, Wade finally took a breath of relief when he saw Tom’s face.

“Tom, thank god you’re here. I told Mrs. Burkens that you would find her missing cat, Tuna, and Mr. Lawrance came in to complain about his fence getting burnt by lighting, oh hi Sonic, and the Wickerson twins-“

“Whoa whoa Wade. I just got here. Take a break and make yourself a cup of coffee, I’ll take care of it.” Tom reassured his incredibly sweaty friend.

The station’s staff was cut down nearly 2/3rds due to everyone staying with their families, trying to repair the damage Robotnik had caused. Wade lived alone and Tom’s house was completed unaffected surprisingly. So it was up to them and a few other officers to help the town as much as possible.

Sonic had never been inside a police station before. Better yet, he hadn’t really been inside any of the buildings in Green Hills since he was hiding from folks. However, since his secret was “out” now he could become accustomed to the local day-to-day life of a usual resident. This may prove to be difficult since he spent the past 10 years basically talking to himself in a hole.

As Tom sat at his old desk he reminisced over the old photos with him and his team that stood proudly next to his monitor.

I hope they’re all doing ok… He pondered.

Sonic noticed Tom getting lost in thought and decided to reel him back down to Earth.

“So… where do we start?!” Sonic basically screamed.

“Well, I guess we can start going alphabetically down the list of residents and send out everyone to cover more ground. Wade will stay here to hold down the fort.” Tom snapped back to reality.

Green Hills was home to less than 1,000 people… 886 to be exact. It wasn’t just a small town, this place was basically a puddle compared to an ocean. Though, to Sonic, each person meant the world to him, and he wanted to help them all the best he could.

Tom printed out copies of the list of the residents and began handing out different sections of said list to the team.  
As they disbursed, Tom gave Wade a trusting nod and they set out for a long day's work ahead. Wade sat at his desk, holding his small cup of coffee comfortably and took a deep breath… “Let’s get to work.”

~

Sonic and Tom began with the A’s on their list, although Sonic began to feel the difference between him and the townspeople with each family they visited. The minute he would reveal himself from the truck the residents would either burn his confidence with a look of hatred or pure fear. Only very few people treated him with some sort of respect.

“Get that THING away from my wife and children, Tom!” A tall, burly man squawked in their direction.

“Hey, hey, easy Earl. He’s with me.” Tom stood in front of Sonic protectively.

“I don’t personally give a damn who or what it is! That creature is a menace to this whole town!” Earl stabbed a finger towards the cowering hedgehog.  
Sonic had never been confronted in this way before. He was so used to watching these people from afar, like a child looking into a fishtank. Now that they were right in front of him, he couldn’t feel but some sort of shell-shock.

“That ain’t natural Tom. We should hand it over to the government and use the money to fix this place up.”  
Tom’s head began to steam with anger. However, he had to remain professional while on the clock. No matter how much of a jackass Earl Assterton was. It was even in his name.

“Well, it seems you and your family are doing just fine. Come on Sonic let’s go to the next house.” Tom guided the smaller one to the truck.  
Earl stood at the edge of his rocky driveway with his arms crossed and feet spread apart. His bushy eyebrows and untrimmed beard tearing a hole in Sonic’s heart. Yet, he could see a small girl and an even smaller boy standing in the doorway looking curiously at the blue hedgehog as they drove away. He waved to them and they smiled and waved back. At least not everyone was as cruel at Earl.

Tom looked at his wistful friend, feeling immense guilt for letting Sonic go through such an experience. He tried to chipper up to lighten the damp mood.  
“Hey buddy, no worries. Earl’s been like that since high school. Anyways, I think you’re really going to like who we get to visit next!” Tom chirped.  
Sonic glanced at him curiously as they pulled into a right turn into the woods.

The truck tumbled and thumped into the deep Montana woods to reveal a little white trailer in a clearing with a mailbox hanging on for dear life. Satellite dishes, kites, and bent metal spoons lay across the yard in a some-what organized manner. This could only mean one thing…

“Crazy Carl?!”

Word Count: 1697


	2. Ghost Bottles

“Crazy Carl?”

The infamous elderly man stepped out of his rustic home to greet Sonic with open arms. Sonic glanced at Tom for a moment of reassurance.

“Well, he’s waiting kid.” Tom nudged Sonic’s shoulder.

Sonic dashed over and gave Carl a warm hug. It felt as if he was hugging a grandparent he never had. Since Sonic’s existence was proven true, Carl gained a soft spot for the little blue devil.

“It’s good to see ya son.” Carl’s crooked smile shined on the smaller one.

“It’s great to see you too! Sorry you can’t really chase me around anymore haha.”

“Oh don’t cha worry about that! I’ve got a new project I’m workin’ on.”

“Oh?”

“Moon men…!” Carl turned to face the open sky, “Ya see that” he pointed towards the moon in broad daylight, “that ain’t natural kid. And I’m gonna catch me one of them moon men!” Carl spread out his legs confidently.

As weird as Carl Amity was, Tom had immense respect towards the old geezer for keeping up with his craft, and it didn’t hurt that he admired how quickly he opened his heart to Sonic. Especially after all the years of torment that little twerp put him through.

Remembering their most recent encounter with Earl, Tom began to think perhaps it would be best for Sonic to hang with Carl today. He then made his way over to the other two.

“Hey Carl, would it be alright if Sonic were to hang here for the day?”

Sonic snapped a shocked look towards Tom. “What, why?!”

Tom didn’t want to admit the truth to him, that the town wasn’t ready to have an alien living amongst them. He can’t let Sonic go through anymore than he already has with Earl. He’s already spent the past 10 years alone, Tom thinks he’s been through enough.

“Because I said so.” Tom said authorically.

Carl started to pick up the vibes Tom was giving off, as well as looks.

“Of course he can stay with me for today! Come on son, I’ll show ya around and you can help me set the traps for the moon men.” Carl took Sonic’s hand and led him to the picnic table he had set up in the backyard.

“Don’t work too hard now Tom!” Carl shouted.

“Eh, not much I can do about that.” Tom replied.

Sonic gave Tom one last look of confusion before turning around to focus ahead of him.

Tom gave a final sigh as he hopped into the truck. “It’s for the best right now…”

~

Tom began to cover his portion of the list, each more exhausting than the last. There was a surprising amount of hard labor he had to contribute. As he was helping to carry a large wooden beam for a store, Tom looked around at all of the damaged roads and spin dash craters.

It still baffled him that Sonic caused so much destruction, well Robotnik didn’t help by blowing up people’s cars and stores on Main Street. As much as he trusted Sonic and treated him as his own family, there is still so much he doesn’t know about him. 

_Where was he from? Who is this Longclaw person? And just what is the deal with the electricity thing?_ All these thoughts brewed in Tom’s mind constantly since meeting Sonic. Though, he never found the right time to ask. Perhaps tonight he could? He wasn’t sure. Tom was never the type to get too emotionally invested in others lives. He was extremely awkward, but that’s why Maddie loved him. No one understood him like she did.

“Hey Tom, gimme a hand with this door!” A civilian called over.

Tom snapped out of his absorbed state of mind and began to focus on work again.

_I’ll ask him tonight after dinner._ Tom assured himself.

~

“Uhh… are you sure this is safe?” Sonic began to sweat nervously.

“Of course I’m sure… I think… what did I eat today?” Carl questioned himself.

Sonic was wearing a tinfoil hat that had a little lightning rod sticking out of the top and some suction cups with wires to his chest. He was also running on a rickety old treadmill that Carl had in the backyard.

“Listen kid, in order to talk to these moon dwellers, we gotta make a signal. Let em know who’s boss around this solar system!” Carl gave Sonic a crazed look in the eye.

Sonic was totally confused, though he had nothing better to do since Tom ditched him, so he went along with it anyways.

“Alright boy, now start running and making that lightning witch craft or whatchamacallit.” He commanded.

“Uh, Carl, I don’t know how to do that.” Sonic stated bluntly.

…

“What in Sam hell you mean you don’t know?! What the hell was that there fight with the robot man about then?!” Carl spat out, barely speaking proper English.

Sonic stopped running and took off the accessories. “I-I’m not sure to be honest… it’s only happened 2 or 3 times in my life. I wish I knew more.” His tone became dejected.

Carl calmed down for a moment and realized how confused the little alien was. He changed direction.

“Hmm… Welp nothing we can do about that, let’s take a break for lunch.”

Sonic’s eyes lit up in excitement once more.

“Ya like chili dogs little man?” Carl offered.

Sonic spun around the yard, barely containing his excitement.

“I’ll uh, take that as a yes.”

Carl pulled out the minuscule barbecue and began to fire up the propane tanks. After the heat started flowing, he went around the side of the trailer to an icebox in the ground, and Sonic followed him to see the strange contraption.

Carl cleaned off some leaves and dirt to open the top. The box contained frozen hotdogs, burgers, buns, ground beef, ice pops, shirts, shoes… keyboards? Best for Sonic not to question the strange man.

He took out the hotdogs and buns. “Sonic, come and grab the meat, that’ll be our chili.”

Sonic gave an understood nod and took the ground beef out of the box and shut the lid.

“Bring ‘er inside, I’ll get the pot heated once these puppies start roastin’.” Carl gave a thumbs up.

Sonic headed inside the old tin can of a trailer and gawked in amazement.

There were a substantial amount of maps with red thread and images of a certain blue blur mounted all around the walls. He chuckled at the thought that just a few weeks ago he was leading Crazy Carl through the woods like a mad man for his own personal enjoyment.

…

He should probably apologize to him for that.

Sonic placed the meat on the little fold out kitchen table next to a pair of night vision goggles and headed back towards the picnic table.

“Dogs are almost done, keep an eye on em while I get the chili started.” Carl smiled softly and headed inside.

Sonic took a seat at the table that was chipped with yellow paint. He looked around in the trees where Carl had hung empty glass bottles and streamers. He took note of the site. _Why would someone do that? … I mean it IS Crazy Carl._ Sonic pondered to himself.

After a while, the delicious chili dogs were cooked and ready to be eaten instantly. Carl made sure to give Sonic an extra few.

With a loud huff, the both of them relaxed in their seats as it became later in the afternoon. Sonic wasn’t sure if this might be rude, but he just had to know.

“Carl, what is with those bottles up in the trees?” Sonic’s nose pointed upwards.

… Carl let out a weighted breath. Sonic took notice of this and began to shift uncomfortably.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean-“ he began to say when Carl interrupted him.

“Nah, you’re fine boy… I’m sure they do look a bit strange to your average person.” He reassured him.

“Them bottles are up there to keep the ghosts away.”

“Ghosts?” Sonic questioned. “What kind of ghosts?”

“Oh ya know, ghosts of things I’ve done wrong. The mistakes I’ve made.” Carl reminisced.

“You’ve done that many things wrong?”

“More than that, I assure you son.” Carl chuckled to himself.

“But… you’re not a bad person… at least not to me.” Sonic looked at the old man with a puzzled expression.

“That don’t mean I haven’t done bad things.”

Sonic noticed the vast amount of alcohol bottles strung around them.

“I drank every last one of these and hung every last one up myself.” Carl said, noticing the look on Sonic’s face.

“That’s… a lot.” Sonic admitted.

“Mmhmm. Sure is.” Carl agreed. “Some folks got a lot of issues.”

“... Were you one of them?”

“Sure was, but, the strongest thing I take now a big ol glass of orange juice bright in the mornin.” He said with a big grin on his face.

“Carl, I’m really sorry for the way I treated you all these years. I don’t understand how you could forgive me so easily.” Sonic dipped his head down to his knees.

Carl reached out and put a hand on the younger one’s shoulder.

“It’s hard to forget the ghosts of our past, but that is why we need to acknowledge em. To learn from our mistakes and grow as people… and hedgehogs.” Carl snickered.

“Come on, I got a little something we can do.” He got up and led Sonic inside.

Carl grabbed two old glass bottles from underneath his cabinet, a green and a blue one. He handed the green one to Sonic, grabbed some old rope and made his way to the tree.

Carl took the beautiful blue bottle and began to wrap the rope around its neck. He then began to show Sonic what to do.

“Alright you take your ghost bottle and you tell it the bad thing you did.” He started. “Like this…” he held the bottle close to his heart, “I’m sorry for all the years I chased after my dear friend, making him feel unwelcome in our town and trying to capture him for my own self gain.” He tied the other end of the rope to the tree and let go, watching the bottle sparkling in the late afternoon sun.

Sonic stared at the man with incredible emotion, when it was finally his turn.

“I’m sorry to my dear friend, Carl, for making him chase me around all this time, making his life much harder than it needed to be…” Sonic teared up a little as he tied up the green bottle to the same branch as Carl’s. Both bottles glistening and joining in tune with the many others to conduct their own song.

“There. Now we’re even kid.” Carl jokingly patted Sonic on the back. “Come on, I got a puzzle I need to finish. We can do that till ol’ Tom gets back.”

~

Tom waved goodbye to the rest of the department after wishing them a job well done for the work today.

He got into the silver truck and began to trek to Carl’s trailer.

As he was driving around the outskirts of Green Hills, he admired the beautiful mountains and forests of Montana. How could he have even thought of leaving such a wonderful place? Well, that didn’t matter now, he was here to stay.

The truck’s tires crackled and popped across the dirt driveway and nearly hit a few flamingo pinwheels along the way. Tom made his way over to the picnic table to see Carl doing a Thomas Kinkade puzzle.

“Oh heya Tom! How was it out there?” Carl chirped.

“Still a lot of damage but you can’t rush these things after all. Where is Sonic?”

“He’s over in the hammock passed out. Little guy really knows how to tire himself out.” Carl laughed.

Tom smiled and walked across the yard to see Sonic absolutely unconscious in the outdoor hammock. He giggled quietly and picked him up gently and put him in the car with the seat slightly reclined.

“Thanks for looking after him man, I hope he didn’t give you too much trouble.” Tom wandered over awkwardly.

“Not at all, we had a good time and had some good food. Gave him some chili dogs for lunch, hope that’s alright with you.”

Tom knows of the last time Sonic enjoyed said meal and cringed at the thought. “Uh, yeah all good, thanks for feeding him. Alright I’m gonna head out. Thanks again old timer.”

Both waved goodbye as Tom and Sonic made their way home. Sonic slept the whole drive home, unsurprisingly. Figures after eating a large meal and probably running around all day.

Tom pulled up to their own driveway as the raccoons in his trash can scurried away. He brushed the thought off as he looked at the sleeping hedgehog next to him.

Tonight he would ask him everything.

To be continued…

Word count: 2166

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! Thanks everyone for the kudos and comments! More is coming soon, I am finishing up finals now so I’ll have tons of time to work on the story afterwards! I tried to make this chapter a little longer than the last. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading my story! This is my first fan fiction I have written in many years so I was a bit nervous about the outcome haha!  
> If you’d like to follow my other socials for my artwork (including Sonic stuff) please check out my accounts below:  
> Instagram: @sodapunkz  
> Tumblr: @sodapunkz  
> Twitter: @SodaPunkzArt  
> TikTok: @soda.punkz  
> Thanks again and come back soon for another chapter! <3


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